31st May 2019

31st May 2019

The runners continue to seem in good form but also continue to hit the cross bar. Oliver's Gold was second for the fifth time in a row yesterday at Cartmel, he's been a legend of a horse and deserves to get his head in front, luckily the handicapper has been kind and his mark has been left alone. Quest For Life was an impressive winner at Sedgefield a couple of weeks back, it was great to see him bounce back to form and he is likely to head up to Perth next weekend. One horse that we were delighted with was Vintage Rose, her owners John and Cherry Steel have been really patient with her and it looks like they could be rewarded, she was slowly away but stayed on well late on to take fifth, no doubt she will only improve and hopefully can make it to the winner's enclosure this season. We were also very happy with Donna's Dream who we claimed from a seller at Wetherby, her stable debut at Uttoxeter wasn't overly inspiring so were delighted when she only went down narrowly at Hexham, she was much more at home in a smaller field and a stiffer track.

We have had a couple of runners at Cartmel this week, Martha's Benefit finished down the field on Monday whilst Oliver's Gold as mentioned just got chinned on the line on Wednesday. If you haven't been I would recommend a visit, it is probably the only track where you might find a family playing rounders at the 2m 6f start! There is a wonderful relaxed atmosphere courtesy of music and fun fair, throw in the mouth watering smell of BBQs, the Sticky Toffee Pudding that Cartmel is the 'home of' it is certainly not your every day meeting and I'm sure Emma will vouch for the fudge stand!


We have finally got some rain over the last week or so, this has meant the grass gallops are riding beautifully. We have taken a few of the youngsters to work on the grass this week, first we took Newsical and Magical Max who went very pleasingly and we like them both plenty. Magical Max may make his debut at York if the ground is suitable and it's not often we introduce one there so our fingers will be firmly crossed! Ezzrah is a giant of a horse by Garswood, he is a 3yo who we had in training last season but he simply needed time, his work this week has been pleasing although his future will no doubt be down the staying route and he will probably come to his best later in the season.


Another youngster we're bringing along steadily this summer is Marcus! I've put him in for his Conditional licence this week, he hopes to gain more experience over the summer in amateur races but all being well he could be claiming 10lb next winter.